Q&A #119: How Do I Apply SPR To My Game?

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In the first no-limit book that I co-wrote with Sunny Mehta and Matt Flynn (as opposed to the upcoming book), Professional No-Limit Hold’em: Volume 1 (PNL1), we devoted a large chunk of the text to the concept of using Stack-to-Pot Ratios (SPR) to plan your hands and to make commitment decisions.

The SPR for a hand is defined simply: It’s the size of the effective stacks remaining divided by the size of the pot after the preflop betting round. So if after the preflop betting is done the pot is $40 and the effective stacks are $200, the SPR is 5 ($200 / $40).

In PNL1, we talk a lot about how to use this SPR number to help plan your hands and make decisions while you play.

Today’s questioner, vb_rounder, asks on the message board if I really use these SPR numbers when I make decisions and how useful I really think the concept is:

I’m curious as to how often you apply the concepts found in pnl vol. 1 to your game (i.e. SPR, commitment threshold, etc.)? I rarely see you incorporating these terms in your articles, so I’m curious as to whether your contribution to the project was more from an organizational/literary standpoint (similar to NLHETAP), or more strategic? I read pnl when it first came out and didn’t care much for it compared to your other books (i.e. GSIHE, SSHE, and NLHETAP). Once the SPR chapter hit, I lost interest as it seemed a little too complex to be practical in a live cash game setting. Personally, I love your cardplayer articles and the style of writing. I like the ease in which they present good, practical information to the reader and are not convoluted with math and impractical theories or concepts.

I realize this question might be dated, but due to your current involvement with pnl 2 i thought I’d ask.

I’m definitely glad vb_rounder likes my Card Player articles, his observation about them is accurate, and the style I adopt in them is intentional. When I write for Card Player, I focus on simple, no-nonsense advice that I think should improve the average reader’s game. I delve very little into the math. The reason I write these articles this way is because I have a limit of only about 1,000 words to get my point across, and I think I can usually use those words better by providing a hand example rather than some math. Also, Card Player readers often read casually, while they’re waiting for a seat at the cardroom for instance, so I try to write casually to match.

My books are a different story, and because of the longer format I can provide both hand examples and math to make my points. SPR is an example of an extremely important concept that we decided to break down both with hand examples and with a nice dollop of math.

The idea behind SPR is a simple one: The bigger the pot, the more risks you should be willing to take to try to win it. This concept is important in all forms of poker – indeed, it was one of the central themes of my limit hold’em book Small Stakes Hold’em.

SPR is simply a way to quantify pot size. If the SPR is 1.5, then there’s nearly as much in the pot as there is remaining in the stacks, and therefore the pot is quite large. You should generally be willing to put your remaining cash at risk in a wide variety of situations because the reward for doing so is so high.

If the SPR is 20, however, then the pot is still tiny compared to what could be at risk. In these situations you should play more cautiously and generally be willing to get it all-in only with a really strong hand.

The relative size of the pot, as quantified by the SPR, lies at the heart of every no-limit decision. Its importance is truly fundamental.

In Professional No-Limit Hold’em: Volume 1, we described many ways that an awareness of SPR can be used to make better no-limit decisions. For instance, we talked about thinking about the target SPR for your hand – the pot size beyond which you’d be happy to get all the money in. And we talked about the max SPR for your hand – the pot size at which you are not happy to get it in, but are willing to if necessary given your effective odds and your winning chances.

And in PNL1 we talked about using SPR to plan your hands from the get-go, before putting any money in the pot. Is your hand going to be effective in a lot of large pot situations? Is your opponent going to make the most mistakes when the pot is medium-sized? And so forth.

These are the same concepts that I write about regularly, both on Noted Poker Authority and for Card Player. You’re right that I don’t always frame these ideas in terms of calculating numerical SPRs, but that’s because I like giving people different ways of thinking about the same stuff. Some people love the math-based explanations. They like being able to calculate a number and use it to guide their decisions. Other people glaze over when they try to think in terms of the numbers. So I’ll introduce the same basic principle in a different way. For instance, recent Card Player article Playing No-Limit With A Plan doesn’t ever explicitly mention the term SPR, but the themes in the article are consistent with the themes we introduced in PNL1.

Do I calculate and use SPRs while I play? I do. I have to thank Matt and Sunny for introducing me to this simple, but powerful idea. But you can be a good no-limit player and never once calculate an SPR. It’s not because you can ignore or flaunt the basic principles behind SPR. It’s just because you can come at those principles from a different direction and arrive at the same place.

Tags: card player, Card Player Articles, matt-flynn, no-limit-holdem, pnl, pnl1, poker, professional-no-limit-holdem, spr, sunny-mehta

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